Over the weekend, I noticed a photo set of Zoe Saldana looking like she just rolled out of bed, standing outside of her house, waving at someone not pictured. The caption read, “Zoe Saldana seen eating some cereal and waving good-bye to Bradley Cooper after he stayed the night at her house in Los Angeles.” Very, very interesting, right? Then came these photos – “Superstar couple Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana were seen enjoying a night out at the Archlight Dome Theater where they watched ‘The Master’ on September 22, 2012 in West Hollywood, California.” Even more interesting.

First of all, Bradley Cooper does NOT like to be photographed with his girlfriends. I think it’s one of the reasons why those “gay rumors” persist – because he is rarely, if ever, photographed with women, and on the rare occasion that he is photographed with a girlfriend-type, they rarely look hot for each other. Second of all, these photos are interesting because A) the paparazzi knew that Bradley spent the night at Zoe’s house, and then they magically knew that Bradley and Zoe would be leaving a movie… arm-in-arm? And the third thing: most people really thought that Bradley and Zoe had broken up months ago. They “got together” when they filmed their movie, The Words, last year and then Zoe just spent months hanging out with Bradley’s mom, then no one ever saw them together, and then everyone was like, “Eh, I guess they broke up?”

Did someone say The Words? Did you know that film is still in theaters right now? It’s in a theater near you. I don’t know why the photo agency didn’t just caption these photos like that. “Bradley Cooper was seen leaving Zoe Saldana’s house after spending the night and The Words is still in theaters right now.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Bradley Cooper’s PR people are trying to repackage him as accessible, they’re trying to show us more of his personal “softer” side, and it’s working. I’m actually starting to warm up to the guy. He’s been very guarded and careful about his personal life in the past, and has come across as either milquetoast or douchey. Now he’s opening up and this is the strategy he should have taken from the get-go. The Hollywood Reporter has a new interview and profile with Cooper and I’ll be damned if I didn’t come away with more respect for him. Cooper went to the Actors Studio in New York after college and he was so talented and dedicated that James Lipton told his parents “Your son will go all the way.” Well he did, and THR is touting how Cooper is carefully choosing his roles to expand his acting repertoire, since he’s making bank from the Hangover movies and doesn’t need the money.

All that said, I’m focusing on Cooper’s claims that he’s been sober for almost 10 years because I don’t really buy it. I mean I believe that he might have given up drinking and hard drugs, but he looks like he’s hopped up on stimulants in some of his recent appearances, and I’ll cover that in a moment. Here are the relevant parts of his interview, with more at the source:

Hangover director Todd Phillips on Cooper
“He is ridiculously different in real life. People think he is just playing a version of himself, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. He is very vulnerable — insecure is not the right word — and that character is just straight-up confident. And there’s a warmth to him you would never know.”

Cooper on getting sober at 29
“I don’t drink or do drugs at all anymore,” says Cooper, noting he gave them up at 29, when their toll was unbearable. “Being sober helps a great deal.”

Once, he relates, “I was at a party and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor — like, ‘Hey, look how tough I am!’ And I came up, and blood dripped down. And then I did it again. I spent the night at St. Vincent’s Hospital with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up.”

He adds: “I was so concerned what you thought of me, how I was coming across, how I would survive the day. I always felt like an outsider. I just lived in my head. I realized I wasn’t going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m actually gonna ruin my life; I’m really gonna ruin it.’ ”
Friends repeatedly cautioned him, yet he didn’t listen. “Part of me believed it, and part of me didn’t. But the proof was in the pudding: I’d always gotten up at the crack of dawn, and that was out the window. I remember looking at my life, my apartment, my dogs, and I thought, ‘What’s happening?’ ”
It was then he decided to change, and the effect was transformative.

On preparing for The Pines
In preparing for the job, Cooper spent a month with the police, “going into these domestic disturbances, which are about 80 percent of the calls. There was one house with a fish tank that a shoe had been thrown through. Dead fish were everywhere — and kittens were eating the dead fish as we walked by.”

He won’t talk about his personal life
Cooper’s every action now is scrutinized — from his four-month marriage to actress Jennifer Esposito in 2006 (“She’s a wonderful woman,” is all he will say) to whomever he’s dating, including his current partner and Words co-star, Zoe Saldana.

He won’t discuss her or confirm they’re together (though he gushes about her work). “It’s not for me to say,” he notes.
Despite the demands of his A-list status, Cooper has retained a loyalty and decency that impress his friends (and he recently started working with the Paul Newman-founded Hole in the Wall Gang Camp).

“He is such an honest and straightforward guy; there’s not an ounce of duplicitousness in him,” says Phillips.

On his career
He has gone past the dark days of his youth and is moving toward a bright future, staking his reputation on movies he believes in — like Words. “He made a lot of calls for this movie,” notes childhood pal Klugman, adding it never would have gotten off the ground without him.

The director marvels at how the boy who attended his bar mitzvah has remained grounded and true. “He has so much chaos swirling around him. He goes from one movie to the next. It is a very surreal lifestyle. But look at the choices he is making — these are not the choices of a typical movie star. None of them are just paychecks.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

See, he seems like a hardworking, standup guy. If he plays his cards right he could continue to change public opinion. I still think he’s more of a talented character actor than a lead who can carry a movie, but I could be wrong. Limitless was kind of awesome. (Until it got complicated and had that magic ending.)

Speaking of Limitless, I don’t believe Cooper is “sober” per se. His pupils look like pinpoints in his recent appearances, particularly at premieres of The Words. My guess would be that Cooper is on a prescription ADHD drug like Adderall or Ritalin. (Which he may need and be legitimately prescribed.) That’s wild speculation on my part, though. Look at his eyes in the photos below, are those sober eyes?

Oh and here’s a link to the slideshow of Bradley Cooper’s photoshoot for THR. They’re making him out to be a cool everyday man’s man in a leather jacket at a dive bar. It’s not a bad strategy.

After I wrote all that, I found these quotes from Bradley’s Words co-star and rumored ex-girlfriend, Zoe Saldana, about him. She said “no comment” when asked about their relationship, but spoke fondly of him. “Bradley is a very dedicated and open professional. It’s really good when you can balance that with an actor as opposed to an actor that just comes prepared and just goes, ‘don’t f*k up my light’ and ‘this line is my close-up.’ We didn’t care where was the camera was. It was just like we were both part of this extensive conversation.” An extreme conversation that ended up in bed and didn’t last after filming wrapped.

Photo credit: FameFlynet and WENN.com

I’m not sure what to think of the trailers for The Words. I think if different actors were involved in the story – which seems to span decades, and involve a stolen manuscript and several interwoven love stories – I would find the whole thing more appealing. But the cast for the film just seems kind of funky, and it doesn’t give me a lot of hope that the script is any good. I mean, Bradley Cooper is the lead! And his leading ladies are Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde. Jeremy Irons is in the mix too, and while I love Irons’ work (Reversal of Fortune is one of my favorite films), the last time Irons did anything noteworthy, it was because he was talking about how much he loves to grope the asses of every lady he meets. Here’s the trailer:

So…. here are the photos from last night’s Hollywood premiere. Olivia Wilde didn’t even come to the premiere, which is weird because she goes to the opening of an envelope. So Zoe Saldana was the big “fashion girl” on the carpet – and she wore Elie Saab Fall 2012. I like the dress in general, and my favorite part is the open back. But I think the color is “off” on Zoe. A shade darker or lighter, and this would have been stunning, but in most of these pics, it’s reading as beige-y pea-soup instead of gold.

Zoe had to pose with her ex-boyfriend (cough) Bradley Cooper on the red carpet too. Boy, the stories she could tell about that man. Stories like… how much fun it is to hang out with B.Coop’s mom, because that seemed to be all Zoe did when she dated Bradley. Bradley looks okay here – not “Sexiest Man Alive” or anything, but nice enough. Emu-ish and vest-y but presentable. As for Ass-Grope Irons, his outfit is cray. It’s like he wanted to wear skinny jeans tucked into his boots, but he didn’t know how to put that look together.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

We’re not really fans of Bradley Cooper around here. Kaiser and I have reached the consensus that he’s a talented, solid character actor, but there’s something lacking that would make him lead material. It’s like it’s hard to get a read on the guy. He’s not the sexiest alive, and he’s far from the most interesting. So I’m kind of warming up to him now that I learn that he takes in rescue dogs. Honestly I don’t consider myself a dog person since I don’t have one, but I really like that he adores his dog. Cooper brought his dog, Charlotte, a chow/retriever mix, to “Live with Kelly” and explained that he found her at a rescue dog event for Much Love Animal Rescue. (There’s video on People.com on this link.) He also said that Charlotte doesn’t have any bottom teeth. I believe that Charlotte is Cooper’s only dog at this point. People did a photo profile of Cooper and his dogs last fall, and they mentioned that he used to have another rescue dog named Samson, saved from euthanasia at a shelter, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 13. Cooper loved Samson so much he has a huge photo of him in his house right above what looks like the dining table. So yes, it does make me like him more! Here’s the story from People:

Bradley Cooper has no problem winning over humans (hello, Sexiest Man Alive!) – it’s his dog that’s the problem.

When The Words star first met Charlotte, his chow/retriever mix, “She was on the streets of Compton, actually,” he told Kelly Ripa and Sam Champion during a Thursday appearance on Live! With Kelly.

“She has no bottom teeth,” he continued, as he described the “little polar bear” and “little toughie” he found through Much Love Animal Rescue.

It may have been love at first sight between the pair, but Charlotte was apparently unimpressed with Cooper’s acting credits when he adopted her that day.

“When she saw you, did she recognize you?” Ripa asked. “And was she like, ‘I am hitting the jackpot!’ Can you imagine?”

In fact, Charlotte had no previous knowledge of her new owner’s past work. “I was like ‘Hey, I was on Alias,’” he said. “She’s like, ‘Nope.’ I’m like, ‘Wedding Crashers?’”

It didn’t keep Cooper from forming a lasting bond with the well-behaved pooch, and he told the audience, “She’s the best.”

[From People]

Now I know what Cooper really cares about, it makes him seem more relatable to me. He told People last year that he sneaks Charlotte on set with him even though he’s “not supposed to.” That’s cute, and that dog is precious! Maybe I don’t consider myself a dog person, but I really love other people’s dogs and wish I could have one. I just travel too much. This story is making me melt a little.

Cooper is in the new Dax Shephard film, Hit and Run, and he’s also in an upcoming movie with his ex girlfriend, Zoe Saldana, a plagiarism thriller called The Words. The NY Daily News asks if Cooper is giving Saldana the cold shoulder, since he admitted to them that he hasn’t spoken to her, saying “I only talk to Brian [Klugman, the director and childhood pal]. That’s the only person I ever talk to. [from the film].” The News notes that Zoe didn’t come to a preview of the film in The Hamptons that Cooper attended, and neither did their other co-star, Olivia Wilde, “who was linked to [Cooper] in March 2011 after he split from then-longtime girlfriend Renee Zellweger.” Who hasn’t this guy slept with?

Here are some new photos of Cooper at the premiere of The Words in Philadelphia yesterday. Neither Wilde nor Saldana were at this premiere, either. He looks really hopped up on something, doesn’t he? Those are not sober or even drunk eyes, those are stimulant eyes. I could be wrong I guess, or maybe he just had a whole pot of coffee.

Header image is from 6-27-12. Credit: Pacific Coast News. Cooper is shown on the red carpet yesterday on 8-27-12. Other photos of him with his dog are from December, 2009. Credit: Fame Flynet.

I smell a match made in tabloid heaven, y’all. Let me explain just a bit. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are currently starring together in two upcoming movies. First up is this November’s Silver Linings Playbook, in which the duo plays unlikely lovers. Then next year, Jennifer and Bradley will be playing husband and wife in the Depression-era set Serena. Do they actually have chemistry? Some studio heads must believe it to be so, but now there’s a new trailer for Silver Linings Playbook, and I’m not so sure. Don’t get me wrong — I’m completely believing JLaw in this trailer, but Bradley is another story altogether. His portrayal of his character is just too earnest, you know? Both of them are supposed to be playing very screwed up individuals (with mutual psychiatric issues) in this movie, and Bradley just isn’t working it. Watch the trailer, and we’ll discuss below.

David O. Russell directs this picture, and supporting roles are played by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver (as the football-obsessed parents of Bradley’s character) and Chris Tucker, who hasn’t been in a feature film in five years. The film itself looks mildly enjoyable in a tragicomic sense, but here’s the more relevant question — despite the fact that Jennifer has been dating Nicholas Hoult for over a year now, how long will it be before the tabloids try to hook she and Bradley up as a romantic couple? I give it a month or so.

Screencaps courtesy of Yahoo! Movies

On Friday, Bedhead discussed a tabloid story claiming that Scarlett Johansson’s “most beautiful man in the world” boyfriend Nate Naylor is something of a wimp. ScarJo and Nate were apparently in some club, and some club douche was trying to grind on ScarJo, and Nate did nothing about it. I’m not saying he should have started a club brawl or anything, but “keeping your seat and not saying anything” isn’t a great option either.

Which brings me to an important question: is it possible that ScarJo is tiring of her most beautiful man in the world? Perhaps. I’ve always pegged Scarlett as the kind of girl who easily loses interest in a man, and she and Nate have been seeing each other for some-odd seven or eight months. Perhaps the end is nigh. But would Scarlett dump Nate without a jumpoff in the wings? And is that jumpoff… Bradley Cooper?

They were rumored to be dating back in 2011 after playing love interests in He’s Just Not that Into You, and from the looks of things, Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper may be giving it another go, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

The Avengers beauty,27,and Hangover stud, 37, had a fun, flirty dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant at the Bel Air Hotel on the night of Monday, June 11. There was candlelight, wine, (well, Scarlett had wine) and what appeared to be witty banter, based on the steady stream of giggles coming from their table.

“They seemed very comfortable together and it was pretty obvious they are into each other,” an eyewitness tells RadarOnline.com “Bradley seemed almost distracted by Scarlett’s beauty, especially since she was wearing a very low cut dress, and Scarlett was totally working her charms. She kept flipping her hair when she laughed at his jokes.

“The chemistry between them VERY evident and they looked totally wrapped up in each other — very cute! They were definitely having more than a “friends” dinner, it seemed pretty obvious they totally have the hots for each other.”

Ever the gent, Bradley stood up when Scarlett excused herself for the ladies room, and upon her return.

The handsome actor, who once dated Renee Zellweger and most recently has been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Zoe Saldana, picked up the tab and the impossibly attractive blonde duo relocated to the piano bar for drinks and a change of scenery.

[From Radar]

Did anyone just feel a little bit sorry for B-Coop there? I did. Poor Bradley didn’t know where to look! Anyway, I remember hearing some stuff about Scarlett and Bradley when they worked on He’s Just Not That Into You, and I vaguely remember something last year too. I suspect that they’re friends. And I’ve always suspected that Bradley’s type isn’t really a Scarlett-esque bombshell, nor a Saldana-esque, ballerina-type. But if we’re playing along, I think there’s a better chance that Bradley will end up going back to Zoe Saldana.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana are no more! Yes, this news isn’t exactly shocking or anything. But I still feel the need to do a timeline of events! Bradley and Zoe were cast together in The Words, which filmed in the late summer of 2011. Very soon after they got on set together, the tabloids began running reports about Zoe fooling around with B-Coop, which was sketchy because she had a fiancé at the time. Around October/November of last year, Zoe and her fiancé announced their split – they had been together for the better part of a decade, and I said at the time that it looked like Bradley was “the reason” for the split. Then, wouldn’t you know, Bradley and Zoe began stepping out at a couple. In as much as B-Coop ever “steps out” with his lady friends.

Skip ahead a few months, and the bloom is already off the rose, so to speak. Whenever Zoe and Bradley are mentioned in the tabloids, it’s in reference to Zoe pushing for a commitment, and Bradley pushing Zoe towards spending more time with his mother. Sidenote: that’s when you know Bradley is no longer interested – he forces the girl to just spend quality time with his main bro, his mom. So, the last time Zoe and B-Coop were seen together was… the Oscar parties. And now they’re done:

Bradley Cooper is single again. Three months after Cooper, 37, and his Words costar Zoe Saldana, 33, first hooked up, the couple have called it quits, a source confirms to the new issue of Us Weekly.

“They’re definitely not together,” the insider says of the pair, who met while filming the upcoming thriller and were first spotted kissing at a New Year’s Eve bash.

Though Saldana — who split from fiance and love of 10 years Keith Britton in November — was spotted hanging with Cooper’s mom, Gloria, in February, pals say she isn’t too bummed about her breakup.

“She and Bradley weren’t superserious at all,” says a pal of Saldana and Cooper, whose A-list exes include Renee Zellweger, Olivia Wilde, Jennifer Lopez and Beginners actress Melanie Laurent.

[From Us Weekly]

Three months? I hope I’ve proven conclusively that they were involved for longer than that. As for it not being “superserious” – uh, Zoe left her lover of a decade to be with Bradley. I tend to think Zoe had expectations. Contractual expectations!

So, whatever. He’ll move on to another “WTF?” lady friend and Zoe will be on every red carpet for a few months, hustling and trying to find an upgrade. In the meantime, let’s just enjoy Bradley’s Oscar pedostache, which I personally blame for the split. Imagine rubbing on that. *shiver*

Photos courtesy of WENN.

When I think of couples making out at parties, it’s usually teens and drunken college students who are in the throes of passion and don’t have somewhere to go for privacy since they live with roommates or their parents. It’s not something that established adult couples usually do. Too much PDA in public seems immature, is what I’m saying. So when I heard that Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana were making out at a pre-Oscar party I thought “really?” and “maybe he didn’t want to take her home that night because he lives with his mom.” Then I read that Bradley’s mom and Zoe’s sister were there at the party, and that his maybe-ex Scarlet Johansson was in view with her new douchey boyfriend when Bradley and Zoe were all over each other. This whole story smacks of try hard and “look at me, I’ve got a new girlfriend. I’m over you!”

Bradley Cooper spent Oscars eve making out with his new girlfriend and catching up with an old one.

The “Limitless” actor attended the Weinstein Company’s star-studded annual pre-Oscars bash with a group that included his new love interest Zoe Saldana, her sister Mariel and his mother, Gloria .

Although the “Limitless” actor walked into the backroom of the Soho House West Hollywood hand-in-hand with his mother and Saldana a few steps behind, the two recently linked actors soon closed the gap — but not before Cooper shared a warm embrace with his “He’s Just Not That Into You” co-star Scarlett Johansson.

Saldana had left Cooper’s side when he caught the Ferrari-curved Johansson’s eye at the Weinstein soiree. In September, Cooper and Johansson were reportedly holding hands at the NYC club Provocateur, although they never confirmed that they dated.

Cooper has since been linked with Saldana, and Johansson with ad exec Nate Naylor, who was her date at Soho House.

When Johansson spotted Cooper, she jumped up and embraced both Cooper and his mom in a group hug and gave each of them a kiss. She then motioned for Naylor to join her.

Naylor spoke to Cooper’s mom, while the two actors caught up. “Did you cut your hair?” Cooper asked Johansson.

When Saldana rejoined Cooper, he gave the “Colombiana” star a big hug as he introduced her to Johansson.

After the introductions, Johansson and Naylor returned to their table, while Cooper did not let his mom’s presence deter him from engaging in a makeout session with Saldana.

Johansson eventually invited Cooper’s crew to sit at her table, where Saldana continued to show affection for her new beau by rubbing his back and hugging him over the course of the night.

[From The NY Daily News]

Maybe this isn’t as cut and dried as the Daily News is making it out to be. Maybe Bradley and Zoe shared a kiss and weren’t pawing all over each other manically while their family and Scarlett tried to examine their manicures. Or maybe they’re just one of those PDA couples who is so into each other they’re touching and feeling all night. Those people bug me. Maybe I’m too uptight, but get a room. At least it wasn’t the Vanity Fair Oscar Party.

Well now I’m buying their relationship is real and not a showmance at least. Zoe has even been bonding with Bradley’s mom, just like his ex Renee Zellweger did. It doesn’t make me any more interested in Bradley and Zoe as a couple, though. But they make a lot of sense together.

Here are Zoe and Bradley at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. Thankfully this isn’t where they were making out. Zoe is wearing Marios Schwab. It’s not a terrible dress, but I really dislike those short skirts with sheer overlays. Bradley looks like Hook to me here. I dislike that facial hair.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Last June, the tabloids started buzzing about a potential love connection brewing on set between Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana while the two were filming The Words in Vancouver, and these rumors persisted despite the fact that Zoe was in a 10-year relationship with fiancé Keith Britton. Then in early November, Zoe broke up with Keith, and everyone wondered whether Bradley was somehow involved in the split. In late December, reports began to fly that Zoe and Bradley were totally dating, and just a few days ago, nameless witnesses spotted the pair making out “like two seventh graders” at Sundance. Naturally, nobody secured a photo of this phenomenon, and I’m still having trouble believing that they’re an actual couple, mostly because the tabloids have linked Bradley with nearly every up-and-coming starlet:

Bradley Cooper may have bitten off more than he can chew with new gal Zoe Saldana. Bradley, who’s been dating a slew of Hollywood ladies, seems to have settled with Zoe, 33, but a source claims the relationship isn’t the casual good time that it appears.

“Zoe is really intense,” says an insider. “She just came out of a long-term relationship with Keith Britton, and now she really wants to settle down.” The insider says that she has decided Bradley, 37, is “the one” and wants to do what other women have tried — and failed [to do]: get a committment out of him. “Bradley really likes her, but he’s trying to keep things casual.”

[From In Touch, print edition, February 13, 2012]

The story also says that Zoe is angling to move in with Bradley as soon as he finds a home base in NYC, and he’s totally not feeling it. So is this story true? Who knows, but if it is, Zoe should probably take it down a few notches since she just got out of a serious relationship.

If Zoe and Bradley really are hooking up, this could also be a publicity move to create “intrigue” for their movie. He’s certainly not above such a tactic because, c’mon, the guy dined with JLo to similar effect. Then again, I just might be too skeptical about Bradley’s willingness to enter a relationship for romantic reasons. It might have something to do with the fact that I don’t see the attraction to this year’s Sexiest Man Alive at all.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

I finally gave in and rented The Hangover 2 over the holidays. It was funnier and a lot raunchier than I expected, but all of the criticism I’ve heard about the movie rang true: it felt old and stale and it had the exact same plot as the first one. The last forty five minutes dragged, and there were more plot holes than I could be bothered to figure out. Despite low critic approval, the film cleaned up at the box office. It grossed $254 million domestically and over $327 million worldwide, to make over a half billion gross. The original Hangover did better domestically, but wasn’t as strong overseas. It grossed $467 million.

It’s been established that the Hangover is a strong franchise, and like every other franchise it’s going to be run into the ground until every drop of money is squeezed out of it. There’s a third movie in the works, and the stars are supposedly negotiating for $15 million each. That’s not upfront – that’s a percentage of the backend which they’re likely to get. They each made a reported $1 million for the first movie and $5 million for the second.

Dealmaking on the studio’s third installment in the raunchy comedy franchise is wrapping up after dragging on for months due in part to the salary demands of its three stars. Sources close to the negotiations say Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms are asking for $15 million each (against backend) to reprise their roles, and they now are likely to get it.

That’s a big raise from 2009’s The Hangover, which was made for about $35 million and paid the headliners under $1 million each (Cooper made the most because he had the biggest name recognition at the time). When the R-rated bachelor-party comedy unexpectedly grossed $467 million worldwide, the studio found itself without talent deals for a sequel. Negotiations were heated for The Hangover Part II, released last May, with the three principals each scoring around $5 million, according to a source, plus back-end compensation that raised their haul into the mid-teens (and counting) when the movie grossed $581 million worldwide.

For the third film, the lead actors, all represented in negotiations by CAA (with agent Jason Heyman taking the lead) and are presenting a united front. (In fact, CAA also reps writer-director Todd Phillips and writer Craig Mazin.)

Warners hopes the next film, a Los Angeles-based story that will deviate from the forgotten-debauchery formula of the first movies, can shoot this summer and be ready for a Memorial Day 2013 release.

That would be great news for Warners, which is saying goodbye to two of its major franchises—Harry Potter, the final installment of which opened last July, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, which the director says will end with this July’s The Dark Knight Rises. In addition, two movies that were on the fast-track for high-profile releases in 2013— Akira and Arthur & Lancelot—have been put on hold as the studio tries to reconcile budgetary issues. All of which increases the urgency to put a third Hangover on the fast track.
“It’ll happen,” says one insider. “It’s a proven commodity, which is rare these days.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter via ONTD]

Well I guess if the movies are cleaning up that the stars should get a piece of that. It still sounds like an exorbitant amount of money. Doesn’t it seem like they marginalized Justin Bartha’s role in this film just for this purpose? Like they knew they couldn’t afford more than three big stars? Or maybe Bartha was absent for the first film, so he was absent for the second because they didn’t want to mess up the buddy dynamic between the three leads.

I really hope that they do mess with the formula this time and serve up something that’s slightly more fresh than the second one. We don’t need yet another lost weekend, but you kind of know that’s what you’re getting. You know what this means? Alan, Zach Galifianakis’ character, might get married next. He’s the only one left who is still single, and for good reason. They could try and switch it up and have someone get divorced or have the guys have to watch their kids alone for the weekend. No, they really shouldn’t involve any kids in this mess. That prop baby in the first movie was enough.